[Foundation-l] Commons Usurp issue

Wed Jun 4 08:25:41 UTC 2008

On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 4:28 AM, Andrew Whitworth <wknight8111 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 10:22 PM, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 2008/6/4 George Herbert <george.herbert at gmail.com>:
>>> If an usurped account owner complains, along these lines, our
>>> counterargument is "We still list (your account / identity) in the
>>> article history, though we've changed the displayed text string for
>>> it.  That's all we do for anyone, ever."
>>
>> Nice try but the GFDL isn't interested in account / identities just
>> the text string.
>
> The GFDL is concerned with authors, not their arbitrarily chosen
> pseudonyms. So long as the invariant list of authors is properly
> attributed, it does not matter what nickname they use to sign into the
> website.
>
> --Andrew Whitworth
>
In copyright law it is perfectly possible to designate a pseudonyme as
an author.

But whatever is the case, it would be highly unethical to forcibly
rename somebody who has made useful contributions.

Bryan